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About John Pitcher

John Pitcher is the chief classical music, jazz and dance critic as well as co-founder of ArtsNash. He has been a classical music critic for the Washington Post, the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, National Public Radio’s Performance Today (NPR), ArtNowNashville.com and the Nashville Scene. His writings about music and the arts have also appeared in Symphony Magazine, American Record Guide and Stagebill Magazine, among other publications. Pitcher earned his master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where he studied arts writing with Judith Crist and Phyllis Garland. His work has received the New York State Associated Press award for outstanding classical music criticism.

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The Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) has unveiled the full slate of feature films in competition and special presentations for its 44th annual festival that runs April 18-25 at Regal Green Hills Stadium 16. NaFF will screen more than 200 films; this year submissions topped 3,004, breaking all festival records. “I’m more excited about this year […]

The classical music world has lost one of its most lyrically inspired composers. Stephen Paulus, best known for his 1982 opera The Postman Always Rings Twice, died Sunday, Oct. 19 at an assisted living facility in Minnesota following complications from a stroke. He was 65. A remarkably prolific composer, Paulus wrote more than 450 works, […]

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match! Studio Tenn Theatre Company released its 2014-15 season selections today after recently announcing its move from Franklin Theatre to The Factory at Franklin and next season begins with one of the most beloved musicals ever. Fiddler on the Roof runs Sept. 4-14. It is followed by that Southern-fried favorite Steel […]

Traces, the acclaimed show by the Montreal-based troupe 7 Fingers, arrives at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Andrew Jackson Hall for eight performances on Feb. 19-24. New York City’s most acclaimed and groundbreaking circus, Traces strips away everything you thought you knew about the Big Top and fuses the traditions of circus with the energy […]

“In writing, you must kill all your darlings.” The quote above is quite well known in writing circles – it is good advice that’s been attributed to William Faulkner and a host of other scribes. And it provides the double-entendre title of a new fictional film called Kill Your Darlings focused on the roots of […]

Nashville Public Television (NPT) has chosen Remote Area Medical, directors Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman’s document of the annual three day “pop-up” medical clinic organized by the non-profit Remote Area Medical (RAM) at the Bristol, Tennessee NASCAR speedway, as the 2013 recipient of the NPT Human Spirit Award at the Nashville Film Festival. The NPT […]

“I started writing these etudes in November of 2011, and I finished them in February 2012,” said the composer Richard Danielpour on Tuesday night at Ingram Hall. “That’s just four months, but in a sense these etudes have been 20 years in the making.” Danielpour, one of America’s preeminent classical composers, was at the Blair […]

Cellist Felix Wang and Nashville multi-instrumentalist Roger Wiesmeyer are both having a frenetic month. In late January, Wang, a Blair School of Music professor, gave the world premiere of Michael Alec Rose’s new Cello Concerto. Not one to rest on his laurels, Wang is now gearing up to perform this Friday with his Blakemore Trio, […]

Dance Theatre of Tennessee soared to new heights during its winter program on Saturday night. For the first time in its history, the company included live music in one of its performances. The program, called “East Meets West,” also featured strikingly beautiful costumes and some remarkably adventurous dancing. The performance repeats at 2 p.m. Sunday, […]

Geoffrey Nauffts’ Next Fall is that rare play that delves into a hot-button issue without quickly resorting to stereotypes. Yes, you’ll recognize the characters, but that’s because the playwright’s wit is delivered by Actors Bridge Ensemble performers that make every moment believable. There’s Luke, a young aspiring actor and fundamentalist Christian; Adam, a hypochondriac and […]

FRANKLIN, Tenn. – Nearly all of Studio Tenn’s My Fair Lady is wonderful (or “loverly” in the show’s lingo). But I have strong negative thoughts and feelings about the way the terrific troupe ends the final scene of this great Golden Age musical. The Alan Jay Lerner – Frederick Loewe adaptation that used George Bernard Shaw’s […]

“People have a lot of misconceptions about the organ,” says organ virtuoso Christopher Houlihan, who was on the phone during one of his rare breaks in concertizing. “They think of it as either a spooky instrument or a boring church instrument. My mission is to change people’s attitudes.” Houlihan, a 26-year-old organ phenom who has […]

A word that comes quickly to mind when viewing the incredible artistic showcase of OZ Nashville is passion. The Ozgener family’s passion for this community and the arts infuses every part of the impressive complex that sits next to John C. Tune Airport. “It is our family’s gift to the city of Nashville,” says Founder Cano […]

Nashville’s city-wide celebration of the arts will get an early start this fall, thanks to Dance Theatre of Tennessee. DTT Will open its 2013-14 season with an expanded version of its “Ballet in the Park” series, this time performing for two weekends instead of just one. “Some people were disappointed last year because we performed […]

Nashville Opera’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat in little over an hour packs everything a good piece should have – compelling characters, engaging plot that generates emotional responses through resonant conflicts, gorgeous voices, terrific technical framing and sublime music played beautifully. Those remarkable custodians of artistic expression housed at Noah Liff […]

Tom Hanks established himself as his generation’s answer to Henry Fonda – and Gary Cooper – quite some time ago: an everyman who is forced by circumstances to choose heroism or cowardice and with an air of quiet dignity chooses heroism. In Captain Phillips he’s that heroic everyman again, though there’s more to this torn-from-the-headlines-tale […]

Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Jackson Hall welcomed a pride of patrons Thursday to Nashville’s second Disney’s The Lion King opening. The current outing, dubbed the “Gazelle Tour” by the fine folks at Disney Theatrical Productions, is a worthy inheritor of the King’s crown: It offers audiences a majestic and whimsical spectacle that has no fear of […]

Readers should try hard not to approach Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lawrence Wright’s comprehensive new volume “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief” (Knopf) expecting either a hatchet job or celebrity expose. Some of its detractors, particularly those in the Church, have already labeled it both of those things in a dismissive manner, trying […]

The Nashville Jazz Orchestra joined forces with the Blair Big Band Friday night to celebrate the holiday season and reaffirm that there’s plenty of vitality left in the classic swing/big band idiom. While each ensemble’s menu was heavily rooted in ’40s material, the most interesting aspect was hearing the young players covering tunes far older […]

Oz Nashville bills its Thursday Night Things (TNT) series as a blank canvas, a clean slate that encourages local artists to experiment and try new things. Last night’s TNT, however, seemed more like the opening of a much anticipated new restaurant, one serving a cuisine that the population has long been craving. The featured item […]